“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” -Unknown

Do you know people who are so abnormally happy all the time you wonder about their mental stability? Everything is wonderful and constantly getting better for them. If you really want to know, they almost make me want to put my fingers in my ears and hum loudly. It’s tempting to tell them to please calm down and be quiet. OK, I really want to say shut up. But I decided if I could be the one to just calm down and be quiet I might learn something.

Keith is a longtime friend who’s known for the phrase, “It’s all good!” I thought the further he traveled into the grown-up world his attitude would change, but it’s still all good. He’s just one of those enthusiastic, excited-about-life people who is gifted with an extra dose of energy. When he was younger he decided if he said it was all good, it was all good. He’s tramped through some stuff over the years, but his attitude never changed.

Several years ago we saved hotel points and frequent flyer miles and took the kids to an upscale ski resort for spring break. All five of us stayed in one room with so much ski paraphernalia it looked like a sporting goods store clearance department. Most of it was always wet and strung across the furniture. It seemed all I did was look for dry socks, hand out snacks, and hold stuff for everyone. And every muscle in my body ached from trying to keep up with the kids on the slopes. That was the trip I finally realized the term family vacation for the mother just meant change of venue.

The second night I thought about running away or at least disappearing to one of the local bars for tequila shots. I’ve never done either of those before, but it seems to solve things in the movies. Instead I ate two chocolate bars and went to bed to pray and regroup hoping the rest of the needy people in the room would forget I was there ... at least for a few minutes. After a while, when it was finally quiet and everyone was asleep, I realized it really was all good.

So here’s what I’ve learned from watching the always-happy-people. You can as easily set yourself up to have an exciting day as you can talk yourself in to a bad mood, whining doesn’t change anything, and if you stay positive you have the power to make people want to put their fingers in their ears and hum, loudly.